Professional Development

Federal Register Summary for week of 30 August 2013

Agriculture

Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program

AGENCY: Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.

ACTION: Request for applications

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, requests
applications for the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation
Program (Community Forest Program or CFP). This is a competitive grant
program whereby local governments, qualified nonprofit organizations,
and Indian tribes are eligible to apply for grants to establish
community forests through fee simple acquisition of private forest land
from a willing seller. The purpose of the program is to establish
community forests by protecting forest land from conversion to non-
forest uses and provide community benefits such as sustainable forest
management, environmental benefits including clean air, water, and
wildlife habitat; benefits from forest-based educational programs;
benefits from serving as models of effective forest stewardship; and
recreational benefits secured with public access.

Eligible lands for grants funded under this program are private
forest land that is at least five acres in size, suitable to sustain
natural vegetation, and at least 75 percent forested. The lands must
also be threatened by conversion to non-forest uses, must not be held
in trust by the United States on behalf of any Indian tribe, must not
be Tribal allotment lands, must be offered for sale by a willing
seller, and if acquired by an eligible entity, must provide defined
community benefits under CFP and allow public access.

DATES: Interested local government and nonprofit applicants must submit
applications to the State Forester. Tribal applicants must submit
applications to the appropriate Tribal government officials. All
applications must be received by State Foresters or Tribal governments
by January 15, 2014. State Foresters or Tribal government officials
must forward applications to the Forest Service Region, Northeastern
Area or International Institute of Tropical Forestry by February 17,
2014.

ADDRESSES: All local government and qualified nonprofit organization
applications must be submitted to the State Forester of the State where
the property is located. All Indian tribal applications must be
submitted to the Tribal government officials of the Indian tribe.
Applicants are encouraged to contact and work with the Forest Service
Region, Northeastern Area, or International Institute of Tropical
Forestry, and the State Forester or equivalent official of the Indian
tribe when developing their proposal. The State Forester's contact
information may be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/coop/programs/loa/cfp.shtml. All applicants must also send an email to
communityforest@fs.fed.us to confirm an application has been submitted
for funding consideration.

State Foresters and Tribal government officials shall submit
applications to the appropriate Forest Service Regional/Area/Institute
contact noted below.

Science-Based Methods for Entity-Scale Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks From Agriculture and Forestry Practices

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Economist, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability for public comment.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has prepared a
report containing methods for quantifying entity-scale greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions and removals from the agriculture and forestry sectors.
The purpose of this notice is to seek input from the public on the
proposed methods. This report was prepared in part to meet requirements
of Section 2709 of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008. The
report was prepared by 38 technical experts and reviewed by 29
scientific reviewers. USDA anticipates that the methods will be used by
landowners and USDA to improve management practices and identify
actions to reduce GHG emissions and increase carbon sequestration. The
guidelines and methods could also be used by farmers, ranchers, and
forest owners to facilitate their participation in voluntary state and
regional GHG registries and programs. Notice of the project was
announced in the Federal Register in February, 2011 (FR Doc. 2011-3731,
p. 9534, Feb 18 2011). Comments received under this notice will be used
to further refine the methods report in preparation for publication as
a USDA Technical Bulletin. Comments submitted will help USDA to gauge
the appropriateness and completeness of the proposed methods as well as
methodological or data concerns that should be considered. A series of
questions have been provided in the supplementary information below to
aid review.

When submitting responses, please annotate comments using the
report section number designations. All information received will be
included in the public docket and made available online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Do
not include any information that might be considered proprietary or
confidential.

DATES: Responses to this notice should be submitted by 11:59 p.m.
Eastern Time on October 11, 2013.

ADDRESSES: The report is available for download from the project Web
site at www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/estimation.htm, and within the
Federal Docket as noted below. If you are unable to access the report
from one of these Web sites, contact the Climate Change Program Office
via the contact details below.

Responses to this notice must be submitted electronically through
the regulations.gov portal at http://www.regulations.gov, Docket
USDA-2013-0003. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Http://www.regulations.gov is an "anonymous access'' system,
which means USDA will not know your identity or contact information
unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you are unable to
submit your responses through the web portal, consider these
alternative submission methods:

SUMMARY: We, NMFS, announce a 90-day finding on a petition to identify
the North Pacific population of the humpback whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae) as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and delist the DPS
under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The humpback whale was listed
as an endangered species in 1970 under the Endangered Species and
Conservation Act of 1969, which was later superseded by the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). We find that the petition viewed
in the context of information readily available in our files presents
substantial scientific and commercial information indicating that the
petitioned action may be warranted.

We are hereby initiating a status review of the North Pacific
population of the humpback whale to determine whether the petitioned
action is warranted. To ensure that the status review is comprehensive,
we are soliciting scientific and commercial information pertaining to
this population from any interested party.

DATES: Scientific and commercial information pertinent to the
petitioned action must be received by October 28, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit information or data, identified by
"NOAA-NMFS-2013-0106,'' by any one of the following methods:

Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic information
via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov. To
submit information via the e-Rulemaking Portal, first click the
"submit a comment'' icon, then enter "NOAA-NMFS-2013-0106'' in the
keyword search. Locate the document you wish to provide information on
from the resulting list and click on the "Submit a Comment'' icon to
the right of that line.

Instructions: All information received is a part of the public
record and may be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without change.
All personally identifiable information (for example, name, address,
etc.) voluntarily submitted may be publicly accessible. Do not submit
confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected
information. NMFS will accept information from anonymous sources.
Attachments to electronic submissions will be accepted in Microsoft
Word, Excel, Corel WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.

Health and Human Services

Implementation of the Revised International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals

SUMMARY: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is providing guidance
to Public Health Service (PHS) awardee institutions on implementation
of the revised International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research
Involving Animals ("Guiding Principles''). The NIH is seeking input
from the public on any concerns they may have regarding the revised
Guiding Principles.

Meetings of the National Biodefense Science Board

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Health and Human
Services.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: As stipulated by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services is hereby giving notice that
the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) will be holding a public
meeting on September 12, 2013.

DATES: The September 12, 2013, NBSB public meeting is tentatively
scheduled from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST, both in-person in
Washington, DC and with teleconference connectivity. The agenda
for the September 12, 2013 public meeting is subject to change as
priorities dictate. Please check the NBSB Web site at www.phe.gov/nbsb
for the most up-to-date information and for all attendance information.

ADDRESSES: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hubert H.
Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20201.
Pre-registration is required for all members of the public wishing to
attend this meeting in-person by September 5, 2013; all attendees must
be signed in by a federal staff member. To attend either in-person or
by teleconference, please refer to the NBSB Web site for further
instructions at www.phe.gov/nbsb. Please arrive, or call in, 15 minutes
prior to the beginning of the meeting to facilitate attendance.

Additional Information for Public Participants: These meetings are
open to the public and are limited only by the space available. Meeting
rooms will accommodate up to 25 people. Pre-registration is required
for in-person attendance. Individuals who wish to attend the meeting
in-person should send an email to NBSB@HHS.GOV with "NBSB
Registration'' in the subject line by no later than Thursday, September
5, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The National Biodefense Science Board
mailbox: NBSB@HHS.GOV.

Meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of the
Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY: As stipulated by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is hereby giving notice
that the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) will hold a
meeting. The meeting is open to the public. Pre-registration is
required for both public attendance and comment. Individuals who wish
to attend the meeting and/or participate in the public comment session
should register at http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac, email nvpo@hhs.gov, or
call 202-690-5566 and provide name, organization, and email address.

DATES: The meeting will be held on September 10-11, 2013. The meeting
times and agenda will be posted on the NVAC Web site at http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac as soon they become available.

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Revisions to the Regulations for Impact Analyses of Critical Habitat

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively referred to as the
"Services'' or "we''), are finalizing a revision to our regulations
pertaining to impact analyses conducted for designations of critical
habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (the Act).
This regulation is being finalized as directed by the President's
February 28, 2012, memorandum, which directed us to take prompt steps
to revise our regulations to provide that the economic analysis be
completed and made available for public comment at the time of
publication of a proposed rule to designate critical habitat.

DATES: This final rule is effective on October 30, 2013.

ADDRESSES: This final rule is available on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov. Comments and materials received, as well as
supporting documentation used in preparing this final regulation, are
available for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business
hours, at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Conservation and
Classification, 4401 N Fairfax Drive, Suite 420, Arlington, VA 22203,
telephone 703/358-2171; facsimile 703/358-1735.